Magic of the Kiln

You take your alchemical glazes, and paint sigils upon the object. You use the fire to bring life to it. Then, either the sigils burn away, or the material around them - and they shall be filled with the energy of the fire.

With glazes (chemicals that turn into colored ceramics in the kiln) and great care, the process of painting becomes a preparation for the ritual. The fire, when touched by, and touching the sigils, burns away some parts of the desired item, searing, and caressing the material… making it more effective in taking magic upon itself. The normally present magic, along with whatever came from the burned materials, and the determination of the creator, all combine into the item. What may be needed in the end, is some kind of binding ritual, to lock the power inside. (For metal items, that could be good ole’ cooling in water.)

This type of magic will be very ritualistic. The process will be sophisticated, but still within reach of ordinary people; ideally those already familiar with fire - the main protagonist is typically a smith, or a potter, a baker or a candlestick maker, even a glassblower.

Considered must be the item itself, the sigils on it, and of course the fire, with all it is made from or influenced by. If special burning materials are needed, how about the wood of a tree many centuries old? Those things tend to be rare, and there will be usually somebody against such a tree being cut down. The more powerful item you want to create, the more powerful resources you need.

The best thing is, the creator needs not to have any magical ability - only his skilled hands, and the will to gather and use the components.

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Records of a chat, unbound and unsorted.

Murometz 10:38 pm: special kilnmanfred 10:38 pm: (Note: we have Magical Pottery already.)Murometz 10:38 pm: yes we do… skip pottery for nowSiren no Orakio 10:38 pm: But very few cookie jars!Murometz 10:38 pm: trueMurometz 10:38 pm: ok, so a symbolic cookie-jar-kiln, which was built to do what?manfred 10:39 pm: *still pondering about the "can magic be burned inside of a kiln" bit*Murometz 10:40 pm: yes!!! it worked..it worked..manfred is pondering!! wooomanfred 10:40 pm: A group of magical effects based completely on fire…Murometz 10:40 pm: BwahahahahahaMurometz 10:40 pm: yes, go on, go on;..manfred 10:40 pm: ...but not some overdone "School of Fire", like everyone already has. *coughs*Murometz 10:40 pm: Siren the party pooperSiren no Orakio 10:41 pm: A group of magical effects based entirely on baking the effect into the objectMurometz 10:41 pm: no not a schoolMurometz 10:41 pm: perhaps a newly discovered /kind/ of fire?manfred 10:41 pm: That’s more like it. _baking_Murometz 10:41 pm: ooh! baking thought is funMurometz 10:42 pm: baking in a kiln, to bake in something into something with special fire..umm, i like it…sort ofmanfred 10:42 pm: What kind of special fire?manfred 10:42 pm: Some unique kind…Murometz 10:43 pm: thinking…manfred 10:43 pm: ...or created by burning special materials?Murometz 10:43 pm: ah, yes, perhaps that!manfred 10:43 pm: (This is going to be ritualistic magic.)Murometz 10:43 pm: a certain something that changes the elemental structure of the fire and..Murometz 10:43 pm: when burnedmanfred 10:43 pm: (And a physical one to it… possible connection to Dwarwes, if desired.)Siren no Orakio 10:44 pm: You take your alchemical glazes, and you paint sigils upon the object, and you use the fire to bring life to itMurometz 10:44 pm: you mean the sigils jump to life? or?Siren no Orakio 10:44 pm: You fill the sigils with the energy of the fire. They do whatevermanfred 10:44 pm: Hmmm…manfred 10:44 pm: ...either the sigils burn away, or the material around them…manfred 10:45 pm: ...and they will be powered by the fire.Murometz 10:45 pm: interestingSiren no Orakio 10:45 pm: WellSiren no Orakio 10:45 pm: When you ‘paint’ potterymanfred 10:45 pm: So it will be the sigils, and the materials, that decide what will come of it.Murometz 10:46 pm: what about a fire that instead of /consuming/ all around it….spits it out instead? all that it has previously destroyed….wow, no, nevermind :pSiren no Orakio 10:46 pm: You do it with glazes, which are special chemicals that turn into colored ceramics in the kilnmanfred 10:46 pm: What Siren said.Murometz 10:46 pm: coolMurometz 10:46 pm: and then what?manfred 10:47 pm: Instead of painting… you get the process of enchanting.The Citadel: Chaosmark has entered at 10:47 pmmanfred 10:47 pm: Let’s just avoid that word. ;)Murometz 10:47 pm: this is turning into ritualsMurometz 10:47 pm: yesSiren no Orakio 10:47 pm: Something like thatmanfred 10:47 pm: Hallo, Chaosmark.Siren no Orakio 10:47 pm: Hi, CM.Chaosmark 10:47 pm: Greetings;.Murometz 10:47 pm: greetings, Marked by Chaos Onemanfred 10:47 pm: Yes, very ritualistic.manfred 10:47 pm: And the main protagonist will be a smith.manfred 10:48 pm: More sophisticated, maybe, but still a smith.Murometz 10:48 pm: or a potter..manfred 10:48 pm: Oh. Right.Siren no Orakio 10:48 pm: A baker and a Candlestick maker!Murometz 10:48 pm: heheMurometz 10:49 pm: sounds liek the title of a cool fairy talemanfred 10:49 pm: Hmmm… so there are more options!Chaosmark 10:49 pm: *stretch* I dislike yardwork. I doubt I’d fare much better as an adventurer.Siren no Orakio 10:49 pm: But, more seriously, it would make sense for a baker and a smith to use the same kinds of magicMurometz 10:49 pm: CM, glazing sigils onto ceramic pottery inside a kiln of fire….go!Siren no Orakio 10:49 pm: Just… different levels of powermanfred 10:49 pm: Chopping up zombies is more exciting than yardwork, I heard.manfred 10:50 pm: Maybe not even that… the very same magic indeed.Chaosmark 10:50 pm: Woah.Murometz 10:50 pm: perhaps an offshoot group, bakers, candlestick makers, glassblowers, etc….society?Chaosmark 10:50 pm: Magic sigils, or just regular sigils?Murometz 10:51 pm: magic is leading at the momentChaosmark 10:51 pm: Sigil of unbreakable-ness.manfred 10:51 pm: Regular sigils turned magical by the almighty Fire.Siren no Orakio 10:51 pm: The answer to the question is yes.Chaosmark 10:51 pm: Sigil of soul-catching/containing.Chaosmark 10:51 pm: Pretty religious artwork.Murometz 10:52 pm: religious artwork that comes to life..sort of "living" stainglass works…Chaosmark 10:52 pm: Perhaps an entire set of ceramics give a pictoral telling of the history of the people.Chaosmark 10:52 pm: Alternatively, the set tells the story of the gods.Chaosmark 10:53 pm: Sigil of secrecy. The sigil and the pot itself seem to just slide under your gaze. If you don’t know that it’s there, it’s hard to notice it.Murometz 10:53 pm: kablooey, i have to go..babies, make a fine, fiery Kiln of Sigil Magic, gents, I urge to to!Murometz 10:54 pm: do so..Chaosmark 10:54 pm: Great for passing poisons around, that you don’t want to be connected to.manfred 10:54 pm: The fire, when influenced by, and influencing the sigils, burns away some parts of the desired item… making it more effective in accepting magic.Chaosmark 10:54 pm: Alternatively, combined with fire oil, or a sigil of fire/explosion, or both, a bomb could be created.The Citadel: Murometz has left at 10:55 pmChaosmark 10:55 pm: "At what appears to be the center of the explosion, all you can find is a few pieces of broken pottery. What does it mean?"manfred 10:56 pm: The normally present magic, along with whatever comes from the burned materials etc. combines into the item.manfred 10:56 pm: (CM: that would be immediately identified as a bomb.)Siren no Orakio 10:57 pm: Traditionally, grenades are just pottery packed with gunpowder.manfred 10:57 pm: What will be needed in the end, is some kind of binding ritual, to lock the power inside.manfred 10:58 pm: For metallic items, that could be good ole’ cooling in water. :)manfred 10:58 pm: Pottery could be different.manfred 10:58 pm: Oh, thought:manfred 10:59 pm: - if special burning materials are needed, how about the wood of a tree many centuries old?manfred 11:00 pm: Those things tend to be rare, and there will be usually somebody against such a tree being cut down.Siren no Orakio 11:01 pm: It could be pretty complex, yeahmanfred 11:02 pm: The more powerful item you want to create, the more powerful resources, of course.manfred 11:03 pm: The fun thing is, the creator needs not to have any magical ability - only skilled hands, and the will to gather the components.

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Can I just say, it is good to do a collaborative effort on the front page again. Though I would of liked a little more on the first entry to go on....

Okay a couple of things.

The Glazes need to be alchemical preparations. They need the chanting, the work, the special beakers, and so on.

Part of their magics is the need to absorb and transform the heat into magic.

The glyphs you paint are going to come in two kinds...
Clear and Colored
Clear bake into the pottery and can only be noted with either magic or special alchemical chemicals to bring out the resedue.

"It seems like a normal mug."
"Yes that is because you are looking with your eyes. Examine it under the light of this spirit candle and you will see."
"Are those magic runes?"
"Sygnils but close enough. This is a clever trap with much preparation."

Colored
These glazes start as one thing and become another under the heat and pressure of the kiln. Thus the metaphor of transformation is carried out in the kiln.. the mundane to the magical... one thing to another..

A magical Kiln will need some special preparation as well. (you can do it without it, but there will be consequences). It will need to be warded to prevent spirits from getting in and messing with the magic.. and to keep the magical pressure inside the kiln high, to make sure the magic "takes".

There will be much glyphing, carving, and so on inside and outside the kiln. A special shape (pyramid) would be nice, but you can work around things.

Not just any old fuel will do for a mystic kiln. You will need special fuels, depending on what you are doing. The act of fire is that of specific transformations. Thus what you want "left over" impacts the kind of magics you can do in the kiln.

Many fuels will have metals added to them, so they fume differently (and cause different reactions).

You will have to balance the chemical with the magical, making certain things difficult to do.

So what things do we make in a magic kiln?

Sympathetic magic items. Models of real things, so you can cast magic on them.

Masks: Always a favorite. To wear or use for magics.

spells trapped inside the clay. Think of a clay ball surrounding a glyph and some symbolic components. Break the ball, release the spell. Some are seamed to make it a snap to open them properly.

Re: "The Glazes need to be alchemical preparations. They need the chanting, the work, the special beakers, and so on."

That is definitely one possibility, and inevitable if the tradition is to be used in a more industrial way.

But I would like to preserve something of the ancient, ritualistic feel of this magic, accessible to laymen, if they have the will and determination.

So, let's say you need to create a tool to help you avenge your murdered child. What do you need to add to the baking process?

- bake its favorite food on the fire, then burn it
- cook the water from the lake it almost drowned in years ago, until it all evaporates
- burn the wood from the tree closest to the peak of the mountain your child liked to look at most
- add one strand of hair
- create the glazing out of your blood, and the soil of its grave

...and that would be just for starters. Any of those components could be very easy, or extremely hard to get

If anything happened, it wouldn't be his fault. He could use the money, poor business and all. Well maybe, it wasn't just the money. It was long since he could this the last time. It was a tiring, draining process, but so rewarding. Very few could create now a Hero's Sword. And it was all the fault of those stinkin' wizards. They spread the rumors.

But the lad seems alright. He worked hard to get all the ingredients. Dragged here a large trunk by himself, from a tree a century old. Then he cut it all apart, and made the coal. That is what the tradition called for.

A sword of this kind, it has magic. Not powerful, not flashy. It will grow to aid its wielder. What he does, the sword will do, and it will preserve the power. Great heroes walked with these swords. Great weapons they made.

But that was what the wizards whined about. The magic is unstable, they said. Sometimes a fresh sword falls into wrong hands. And then it grows bad. It helps whatever bandit lays hands on it first. Slaughtering people quietly and stuff. Creating, "evil weapons", as if they knew what it is. They got it banned everywhere. And now they are the only ones to make magical weapons. Bastards.

Melenmar pounded some more. It has the color, the heat is right, the iron is ready. Soon. He placed the blade an inch under the coals. Letting the lazy apprentice push the bellows instead, he called the young hero to rest for a while. He placed a tiny bowl before him.

- "It will soon be done, young master. There is only one more thing I need."
- "Whatever you say, old man. But know I don't have enough spittle after a day in your forge."

The blacksmith laughed grimly.

- "The magic does not call for that. It has to be blood, sire. Blood of the one who who will carry it first."

Freetext

On route from Geli to Nekrass the characters meet a peasant boy on the road. He's wandering in the direction from which they've just come. If this seems a little bit incongruous, they may wish to ask him a few questions. He's perfectly willing to talk: he's called Lamish and he's run away because he knows he is the heir to the throne of Geli and his parents didn't believe him. How far is his home? About five weeks walk from here. How much has he eaten? Nothing. Has he drunk? Only from the filthy roadside ditches. In short, it's a wonder he is still alive. And yet he seems perfectly healthy.

Is he a thief, waiting for travellers to trick? Is he lying because there's something more sinister under all of this? Is he telling the truth? And anyway, what should the characters do? Do you take him to Geli? Do you try to find his parents? Or leave him to make his own way?